


Water

by demonshide7



Series: Elements [1]
Category: DBSK | Tohoshinki | TVfXQ | TVXQ, JYJ (Band), yunjae - Fandom
Genre: M/M, Male to Male relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-12
Updated: 2016-07-12
Packaged: 2018-07-23 12:15:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7462905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demonshide7/pseuds/demonshide7
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jung Yunho is rescued and given water.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Water

  
Jung Yunho wiped the sweat off of his forehead.  He wanted so badly to drink, but he’s drank his ration of water.  And while his troop was more than willing to share theirs, there is this voice inside his head that kept saying, “Don’t drink it unless it’s from someone you trust.”

“You’ll get dehydrated really quickly if you don’t  take a drink, PFC,” sergeant said. 

They were resting for a while before resuming their hike.  And very slowly, Jung Yunho slid into oblivion.   
  
“I’ll take care of your soldier, sergeant,” another soldier from another platoon said.  The voice was familiar.  But Yunho was unable to say anything.

“You’ve studied heat stroke first aid?” the sergeant asked.

“Yes, sir,” he chuckled.  “As well as how to keep someone like him from totally becoming dehydrated.”

“He refuses to take water from his platoon,” his sergeant said.  “I’ll send medic here as soon as they’re done marching down.  Hold on until then, sergeant.”

“Aye, aye, sir!”   
    
Yunho felt the trickle of water slowly drip down on his lips.  He opened his mouth a little to let the cooling liquid down his parched throat and tongue.

“This is my water, Yunho,” the voice said.  “I promise it’s clean and there is nothing to fear.”

Yunho felt his clothes loosened and a cold compress wipe at his head.  There were more cold wipes down his neck and around his chest.  This man was extremely familiar with wiping him down it seemed.

“Where is Changmin, Yunho?  Shouldn’t he be here to help you out?  You two are so inseparable after all,” the voice asked. 

Yunho could not answer.  He lapped at the water that trickled slowly over his parched tongue.  His head was a little fuzzy.  And he was moved to the shade it seemed.  Cold water kept trickling little by little over his tongue.  He worried about the water the other person was going to drink.  He wanted to say something but his tongue wouldn’t cooperate.  Why does the voice sound so familiar?

He opened his eyes and he could have sworn the person before him was Kim Jaejoong.  He closed his eyes.  It was too heavy to keep open.  No, it was surely not Kim Jaejoong.  He just wanted it to be Kim Jaejoong.

Yunho’s hair was wetted and his forehead cooled over and over again.  The sound of trickling water nearby was an indication as to where he was laid tenderly down. 

He drank his fill of water, but his eyes felt so lethargic.  He didn’t know if he wanted to open them.

“Soldier Kim!” the yelled command filtered through his fuzzy brain.

“Captain!”

“Good job, soldier!  Your markers allowed us to find you.  It’s a good thing you found shade and water,” a new authoritative voice said.  “We’ll handle Private Jung from here on.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Here, take this water bottle and hurry up and join your platoon,” the new voice said.  “Gentlemen, make sure Private Jung is carefully…”

Hands different from the one that was caring for him handled him.  He flinched. 

“Use the blanket Sergeant Kim had laid, medical private Lee!” the new voice ordered. 

“Allow me to help, Captain, and then I’ll leave to join my platoon,” the sweet familiar voice said.

Gentle hands carried him from the ground and laid him gently unto a stretcher.

“You do that efficiently, Sergeant Kim,” the Captain’s voice said with amusement.  “According to rumors it should be him carrying you around like that.”

The light bark of familiar laughter rang next to his ear. 

“I’m a man, Captain.  It’s easy to do this.  Especially when he’s a precious friend,” the familiar voice said.  “Take care of U-know Yunho for me.  He’s the kind that will give all he has towards the job without care of his physical well-being.”

“He’d be the first to die in war, then, Sergeant,” chuckled the Captain.

“I don’t think so, Captain.  He’ll lead his troop well, when it’s time for it,” the sweet voice said. 

“Well, if there is nothing else then Sergeant, be on your way,” the Captain said.

“Yes, sir!”

“Jung Yunho, be well.  And drink lots of water.  It’s the stuff of life, Yunho.  I hope that when you think of water, you’ll think of me,” the sweet voice whispered in Japanese.

He reached out an arm and snagged an arm.

“Don’t leave me,” he managed to croak out.

“No, private, I’ll be with you all the way to the infirmary,” the Captain’s voice said. 

It wasn’t who he wanted.  He slid into a blessed oblivion.

 *~*

Jung Yunho came to in the infirmary.  Three water bottles with notes on them were placed on his bedside table.  And he was hooked up to an IV line.

“It’s nice to see you lucid, Private Jung,” a nurse said.  She was an older lady with a brusque speech.  There was a slight slurring in how she said her words as well.  It was a little difficult for Yunho to understand her particular dialect.

“You were dehydrated,” a doctor said.  “It’s a good thing that whoever stayed with you knew what to do.”

“Who stayed with me, sir?” he asked, his heart pounding at the thought that he may be right.

“It was Soldier Kim,” the doctor said watching the young man’s reaction.

“Soldier Kim Jisung!” the nurse said.  “The captain was all praise for that man!  Kim Jisung did this, he did that.  Ugh!  That’s all I heard from him!”

Yunho bowed his head in disappointment.  He was just hallucinating then.

*~*

    
Everyday a bottled water was delivered to his room.  It always had a note that said, “Water is Life, Yunho.  Drink more.”

He never saw his benefactor.  He was told by the nurse that Sergeant Kim Jisung was too far away to contact.  Soldier Kim was doing field operations (i.e. survival training) when he came across Jung Yunho’s troop.  All through the 21 months of his service, no matter where he was, bottled water always found him with the same note.   
    
When he finally got out of the military, he wondered if the bottled water would find his way to him as well.  It was the only connection he had to this benefactor.   
    
He wasn’t disappointed.  He collected all the cards that said the same thing.  A carved wood box he had seen at a shop near his family’s house was almost filled with the cards that followed the water bottles.  He has yet to find  and thank his benefactor.

 *~*

  
The day was hot, grueling even.  The drama shoot was more than he could bear.  He had forgotten where he placed his water bottle.  And his manager wasn’t on the set currently.   
He wiped his brow off of sweat.    He didn’t feel good.  Then suddenly a cold water bottle appeared before his eyes.  It was still intact.  He drank it, not looking up at the person who handed him the bottle. 

“Slowly,” a low familiar voice said. 

He did slow down.  When he looked up to thank his benefactor, he looked into the smiling eyes of Kim Jaejoong. 

“Hello, Yunho, drink more water.  Without it we can’t live.  Water is life, Yunho.  Drink more,” the man said. 

Pretty and masculine still as he was that year he enlisted.  He strode away from Yunho and went towards his own set where he was shooting another drama.

“Isn’t that Kim Jaejoong?” a make-up noona asked.  “He’s such a popular actor nowadays!  Aish!  Still so handsome!”

Yunho could only nod.  The same words, the same voice.  Perhaps there was something he missed when trying to find this mysterious benefactor that had long eluded him.  After all, how did Kim Jaejoong know the words written on those little cards.

*~*

    
From that time on, there was always a small cooler of water bottles that was strictly for Jung Yunho to drink.  The notes now said, “Water is life, Yunho.  Drink more.  Without it, we cannot live.  KJJ.”

 *~*

  
It took some months before he finally traced the Captain that had helped get him back to the infirmary. 

“Well, of course, it was Sergeant Kim Jaejoong, Sergeant Jung!” the Captain said.  “It’s difficult to find someone like him anywhere else.  Why did you think it was someone else?”

He explained that the nurse said it was Kim Jisung.

The Captain laughed.  “Nurse Choi Soohee speaks with a weird accent and she was probably trying to say Jijung and you heard it as Jisung.  For a while there, when I asked about you, she would call you ‘Jungyunu.’  I wondered if I had your name right.  It confused me so much that I thought she might have been talking about a Jung Yoon Oo.  And not the famous U-know Yunho.”

Yunho laughed at having found the confusion.

    
It took another year before the opportunity to thank his benefactor came around. 

    
A shooting for a film where Yunho was given a small role had Kim Jaejoong as the lead male role.  It was again a grueling shoot.  Yunho could tell that the man was tired and almost exhausted that particular day.  Jaejoong was looking around for something and couldn’t find what he needed.   
    
Yunho went to his daily cooler of water that the other man always managed to send and brought up one for himself plus another bottle.  He walked towards Kim Jaejoong and offered the cold water.

Yunho smiled as Jaejoong looked at him. 

“Drink more water, Jae.  It’s life,” he said.  “Here.  You’ve been giving me water for so long, it’s become a lifeline.”

Jaejoong accepted the drink.

Yunho bowed formally towards the slightly older man. 

“I haven’t had the opportunity to thank you for rescuing me that time, but now, I am taking that time now,” he said.  “Thank you, Kim Jaejoong.  Whenever I drink water, I always think of you.”

*~*

    
Changmin went over to Yunho’s house and came upon the box that had grown in size.

“What the hell are these, hyung?” he asked, rifling through the notes that still come no matter what.

Yunho smiled and said, “Proof that I’m well loved.  That person wants me to live.”

“KJJ…” Changmin read.  “Noooo…”

Yunho laughed.

“There was this picture of you bowing formally towards him.  Well, 90 degrees for a good while anyway.  It was making the buzz on the internet,” Changmin said.  “I heard that Yuchun and Junsu were shocked.”

“I suppose you were as well,” Yunho said. 

“Yes, but since you didn’t do anything else after, I wondered what it was all about,” Changmin said.

“I was thanking him for loving me enough to want to keep me alive,” Yunho said.

Changmin scratched his head.  “I don’t understand you, hyung,” he said. 

Yunho tossed him an ice cold bottle of water.  “Drink more water, Changmin.  It’s life.  Without it, we cannot live.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Changmin said chugging down the water.

He noted that Yunho was dressed for going out.

“Hyung,” Changmin said.  “Where are you going?”

Yunho smiled.  “I’m going to go get a drink of water.”

“I can give you mine,” Changmin said, offering the bottle Yunho tossed him.

“I don’t think so, dongsaeng. I have plenty of that kind.  It’s different the one I’m going after.  But just like water, it’s life.  And I’m going to drink more of it.”

“You’re talking about soju?” Changmin asked.

Yunho laughed.  “Well, it’s certainly… ummm… intoxicating.  It makes my head definitely swim.  And in its embrace I can forget everything,” he chuckled.  “Lock up after you’re done.”

“You’re weird, hyung!  You’re weird!  Maybe this is what happens when you suffer from dehydration!” Changmin yelled after him.

Yunho only chuckled.

*~*  
    
Yunho got into his car and travelled for a distance from the city lights of Seoul.  He arrived at a walled estate.  The automatic gates opened for him and his car.  He parked his car and opened the door to the house.  It was quiet, but Yunho knew that it was occupied.

“Welcome home,” a quiet voice said, breaking the silence of the night. 

Yunho smiled and took up the masculine fingers of the person that greeted him and brought them to his cheek. 

“Thanks.  I’m home,” he said.

And Yunho realized that what he said was true.  No matter how far away, how far apart, how they got to this time and this place, how angry, how tired, how stupid, how illogical it could possibly be.  With this person, he was home. 

Yunho looked into the mirthful eyes of Kim Jaejoong.

“You want some water?” Jaejoong asked.

“Yes, please.  I’m thirsty and someone doesn’t like me collapsing because of dehydration,” Yunho laughed.  “Let me receive more of your love.”

Jaejoong laughed and patted Yunho’s cheek before turning away to go and get Yunho a water bottle.

“I’m glad that it was conveyed,” Jaejoong said simply.  “I didn’t know if you’d understand.”

Yunho turned the man around to face him and looked deep into the eyes of his benefactor and said, “Kim Jaejoong is life.  Without whom I cannot live.  I really should drink more.”   
    
Fini


End file.
